Destination selector



March 31, 1964 F. A. HANLEY DESTINATION SELECTOR Filed July 11, 1962INVENTOR United States Patent 3,126,862 DESTINATION SELECTOR Frank A.Hanley, 37 Dechert Road, Conshohocken, Pa. Filed July 11, 1962, Ser. No.209,153 1 Claim. (Cl. 116-419) This invention relates to an improveddevice for facilitating the reading of travel timetables and schedulessuch as are distributed to travel agents and the public by air carriersand railroads.

In accordance with the invention, the device is composed of two piecesof colored plastic which are slidably connected together to enable themto be expanded from a completely superposed relation to cover an areaapproximating the total of their two areas. By adjustment of the twopieces, the data in a timetable or schedule relating to the two placesof interest to the reader are exposed along two opposed edges of thedevice, while the listed places and data relating thereto which arelocated between the two places of interest are blocked by such plasticpieces. It is preferred that the two plastic pieces be made sufficientlytransparent so that the blocked intermediate listed places and the datarelating thereto are not wholly hidden from view, but are only renderedless prornient than the two places of interest.

It is believed that a better understanding of the device of thisinvention will be obtained from the following detailed descriptionthereof when considered with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1is a plan view of the device shown placed on an airplane schedule pageto compare flights between New York and Caracas;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view looking along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the device taken along the line3-3 in FIG. 1.

In the drawings, the numeral indicates generally an airplane schedulepage in an ofiicial airline guideof the type usually furnished to travelagents and listing thereon in column form the places 11 at which theplanes will stop in their scheduled flights, and the times 12 at whichthe planes will arrive and leave such places. As indicated, the deviceof this invention is placed on the schedule page 10 to facilitate acomparison of the data relating to New York and Caracas.

The device comprises two pieces of plastic sheet material 15 and 16superimposed on one another in slidable relation. The sheets are made ofany suitable, known transparent plastic material, and are preferablycolored with a suitable transparent coloring material so that the dataon the schedule page 10 covered by the device although shaded by thecoloring of such pieces, still can be read through both thicknesses ofthe sheets. The thickness of the sheets is such that their transparencyis substantially unaffected thereby, but sufiicient to give the deviceweight enough to stay in position upon the sheet of paper on which it isplaced. The dimensions of the sheets 15 and '16 will vary in accordancewith the intended use of the device and will depend on the area of thetimetable or schedule sheets on which is provided the data with whichthe device is to be used. Thus, with an ofiicial airline guide page,such as the illustrated page 10, it has been found that sheets 15 and 16four inches high and eight inches wide, to enable them to cover areas3,126,862 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 in the range of approximatelythirty-two square inches to sixty square inches, are satisfactory.

The two plastic reading sheets 15, 16 are held in sliding relation bytwo side guide members 17, 17 which may be in the form of metal clips ormade of any other suitable material. In order that the sheets and guidemembers may be maintained in assembled relation, the guide members maybe provided with upper flanges 18, 18 engaging in sliding relation theslots 19, 19 provided in the upper, outer surface of the sheet 16adjacent to the end edges of such sheet, and with lower flanges 20, 20engaging in sliding relation the slots 21, 21 provided in the lower,outer surface of the sheet 15 adjacent to the end edges thereof. Theslots 19 and 21 preferably terminate short of the top and bottom edgesso that the material of the sheet beyond the ends of such slots functionin the manner of stops 22 to limit the range of expansion of the piecesand to prevent such sheets from being pulled apart.

The manipulation of the sheets 15 and 16 is facilitated by finger tabs23, 24 provided on the top edge of the sheet 15 and the bottom edge ofthe sheet 16, respectively. Both of the finger tabs project upwardlyfrom the upper surfaces of the two sheets so that they can both bemanually manipulated from one side of the device and enable the deviceto lie substantially flat on the page 16. The tab 23 may be utilized tocoact with the top stop members 22, 22 on the sheet 15 to limit theclosing movement of the two sheets. Thus, by providing the finger tab 23with a thickness at least as great as the dimension of such top stopmembers 22, 22 between the upper ends of the slots 21 and the top edgeof the sheet 15, the finger tab 23 is enabled to coact with the top edgeof the sheet 16 to limit movement of the sheets 15 and 16 in thecollapsing direction. By making the thickness of tab 23, and the saiddimension of the top stop members 22, 22, the same, all of such memberswill cooperate simultaneously in such limiting action.

It is believed that the use of the device will be readily understoodfrom the foregoing explanation. It is believed advisable, however, topoint out briefly that the device may be placed on the page 10 with thetop edge of sheet 15 immediately under the place of start of a trip (NewYork) and then while holding such edge in such position by firmlygripping finger tab 23, pushing down on finger tab 24 to expand thedeivce until the bottom edge of sheet 16 immediately overlies the placeof destination (Caracas). The data on the page relating to the arrivaland departure times of planes at the two places may then be readilyobserved without distraction by the data of intervening places on thepage. It will be noted, however, that while the data on all interveningplaces are shaded out by the coloring of the device, such data will notbe completely obscured and will be observable therefore, in the eventquestions arise in regard to the arrival and departure times of a planeat any of such intervening places.

While I have hereinabove described and illustrated a preferredembodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart, that modifications thereof may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention, or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A destination selector for readily ascertaining the departure andarrival times of a public carrier between two places listed on aschedule of such carrier, comprising two sheets of colored transparentmaterial superimposed on one another in sliding relation so that suchsheets may be expanded and contracted in the direction of the list ofplaces on the schedule to enable the opposite end edges of the devicesto be positioned adjacent to two selected places spaced apart in suchlist a distance greater than the dimension in such direction of thedevice in the contracted condition of such sheets and to block largerand smaller areas, respectively, of the schedule between any such twoselected places of such list, the coloring of such sheets being suchthat the data on an area of the schedule blocked by such two sheets issufiiciently shade to make References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,336,900 Galloway Apr. 13, 1920 1,658,499 StevensFeb. 7, 1928 2,179,531 Trapnell Nov. 14, 1939 2,319,436 Bailie May 18,1943

